Thales has announced the order of its 100th CAPTAS variable depth sonar system, marking what the company describes as a major milestone in its long-running role as a leader in anti-submarine warfare (ASW) technology.
Developed through more than three decades of collaboration with the British, French and Italian navies, the CAPTAS range now equips 17 different ship classes across 17 navies worldwide, including vessels ranging from corvettes under 1,000 tonnes to full-scale frigates and destroyers.
The CAPTAS family, short for Combined Active-Passive Towed Array Sonar, is designed to deliver long-range, 360-degree underwater detection and tracking even in complex acoustic environments. According to Thales, this capability gives naval forces critical early warning and tactical advantage beneath the surface.
The company said the system’s success lies in its modularity and ability to integrate with diverse naval platforms, establishing CAPTAS as a reference system for NATO and allied navies seeking advanced ASW capability.
Thales added that the sonar’s evolution continues to be driven by artificial intelligence, multi-sensor data fusion, and operational feedback from users.
Sébastien Guérémy, Thales Vice-President for underwater warfare activities, said the milestone reflects the company’s enduring partnership with allied maritime forces. “As a result of long-standing cooperation with more than 50 navies worldwide, our deep understanding of their needs makes the CAPTAS system an essential choice for current and future anti-submarine missions.”
That’s most likely the Irish order for the CAPTAS 1, there’s a French article which has some images of the container for it (which is the first production model they’ve made) and the interview gives the order time and delivery which match up with what’s been announced by Dublin.
Question, could you use a towed array for surface ship detection, I am thinking in the just over the radar horizon so that would be about 35-50 miles?
The short answer is yes. Passive towed arrays generally detect anything in or on the ocean/sea if they are noisy enough and the noise source falls within its frequency range.
Fish, mammals (whales), seismic activity, oil drilling platforms and all manner of vessels. It’s all about recognising their acoustic signature.
Questions ought to be asked why the decision was made to sell off nearly all British defence industries, which were quite impressive once upon a time and rely pretty much solely on foreign innovation and development. The French did not go so far and today they reap the benefits.
The British company that builds these sonars is still a British company (Formally Ferranti, Thomson Marconi) . It was never owned by the British government so it was never sold off by anyone. It’s now owned by a French parent company after BAE sold it off.
BAE sold it off because there is a limited profit margin in the UK and Europe and they used the proceeds from this sale to purchase US businesses which have a much higher profit margin due to the pork barrel US politics and rampant corruption of that nation in the way it does military procurement.
The decision to sell BAE was made by one Margaret Thatcher in 1986 largely against the wishes and advice of her cabinet and the civil service.
That decision also lost us our stake in Airbus.
However I have been told that Margaret Thatcher is the best thing to ever happen to this country so it must have been the right decision.
What a load of inaccurate nonsense.